Crackers No More!
A Story by Nayan
Read on how a child comes to know of the harsh realities and how that revelation changes him completely...
Tanai is the only child of his parents. Today though, he has a grudge on them.
Today is the day of Diwali, the festival of Lights. This is the day when all Indians decorate their houses with lights, be it the earthen lamps or candles, electric bulbs or electric candles! The last one being a new addition that Tanai has seen recently. The Bengalis worship Kali, the Goddess of Death, in various forms on this day. And the business community worships Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Ganesha, the God of Wisdom on the same day! People would mingle and enjoy and worship between these two or both, adding to much fervors and flavors that the festivities of this eternal land are known for!
And on this day, he is angry on his own parents! And why should he not be? He has his reasons, very justified reasons of being so! On such a day of celebrations and joy, his parents have bought him so less crackers! What will his friends think? What will they say? They have been bought so many crackers, so many toys! His head starts brimming with anger, as he thinks so. No...No, this is unpardonable! Why has my father not given me a video game, when Tapesh’s father has bought Tapesh a costly one?
His parents console him, try to make him understand the situation. But to what use? “See dear Tanai, we have done as per our abilities. The cost of every item has increased so much in the market! It’s the time of severe inflation. Haven’t you seen the poor unprivileged kids on the streets and the nearby slum? Try to understand dear, you are in so much better and happier situation…” Still, does not understand Tanai! “Blah!” those dirty kids! How much he hates to see them running and moving on the streets and nearby their house, in untidy and scanty dresses. They live dirty, they are dirty, and they are fit to be downtrodden!
Once, a poor beggar had come to their house, with his little son. How much had Tanai scolded that dirty little kid on that day! Tanai still remembers clearly, how they were about to turn back with tears in their eyes! But, never had his heart even pained to see their sufferings. Or, perhaps to feel the heart’s pain, you need to scrub away the thick moss! Tanai’s mother had then given them some rice and pulse. She has tried to make Tanai understand that the poor are also human beings. They also have every right to live happily like us. But just that fate was not on their sides! Tanai had not understood! Nothing has changed a bit, even to this day " four years have passed, Tanai is now thirteen!
“O Tanai! See, who has come!” Parents were calling him. “Come dear, your elder brother Debjeet has come. Let’s go and light some crackers!” Tanai jumped with joy!
Ten years older is his elder brother. Tanai shared crackers with him to light. “Surprising!” His Debjeet da does not burn crackers! Tanai was completely astonished.
* * *
Their school bus has broken down while returning from school. Tanai and his friend Tapesh went down and took a rickshaw. The events that occurred after that, were so swift and so unexpected that before the two children could grasp anything, they found themselves sitting inside a moving van, locked from outside! Two more kids were inside the van, shedding tears in the same way as Tanai and his friend. One was a fat boy, very cute and seemed belonging from an affluent family. The other was a little girl. She looked exactly like his cousin sister, thought Tanai. The fat kid was sobbing heavily, with loud cries at times, “Let me go home! I want to go to my mom, my dad!” The loud cries always automatically were getting converted to sobbing because of the driver’s low pitched, heavy and threatening words, “Silence!”
Two days and then they were brought at some dingy and hidden place. The place was covered from all directions, and looked more like a closed godown. There then came a black gigantic figure. And he surveyed the kids, and then exclaimed, "Good!".
They were each offered two dry and hard rotis, the circular hand-made bread made of wheat flour, to eat. Tanai's hunger was unspeakable! He picked up the rotis and tried his teeth on them! "Ahhh!", so hard and thick were they, that he could not bite them. He used to get much much better food at his home! The way his mother used to cook and serve with love and affection! Even then how foolish was he! He used to shout and yell at his dear mother for a slight lowering of the taste! Tears rolled from his eyes...
The fat kid started crying, "I won't eat this distasteful roti! I eat only food cooked by my mother!". One straight slap was enough to set the noise to silence, as it was effective to print fear into the innocent hearts! They had to eat the uneatable rotis. Agents of fate have thus always shown the unthinkable to the newcomers to hardships!
Next morning, they were taken to a crackers' factory. Tanai could not believe when he saw kids of his age, younger and elder, working hard to hand-manufacture the crackers! Guarded by tall and stout figures, who resembled more of those villains in the films. Thoughts changed drastically from one end to the other in his mind, as Tanai tried getting close to the reality his eyes could hardly believe! He had till the other day enjoyed and lighted crackers. Just this last time, he had made such a hue and cry on his parents for not buying him more of them. Never had he ever thought that one day he himself would have to make them! He never knew that crackers that he played and enjoyed with so much, were manufactured by kids like him!
"What's on? You dog, wasting time!" A cruel sound is always accompanied by cruelity! One kick on the back and Tanai found himself fallen to the ground. "Hey Kaluwa! Take this idiot! Make him learn the wits and ways..."
* * *
Never in his life had Tanai heard such abuses and faced such harsh treatments. His mother and father used to love him so much, even then he used to shout at them and show his displeasure! Poor he!
The kid named Kaluwa, should have been five years elder to him. He looked bad, with a burnt face on the left side. But, he came forward and consoled Tanai, "Don't cry brother! Please don't cry! We all had this starting day in our lives! Come...".
He continued with his melancholy tone, "They force us to make the crackers. They sell it at high costs and make so much money! But they don't give us proper food and clothes. They don't allow us to go out! They keep us prisoned here in this box place! We do this dangerous work. Many times the crackers blast, taking someone's eye or other's hands! See him - that lean boy!"
As Tanai lifted his eyes, the lean dark colored boy came forward and talked, "We die making crackers! Is there anyone who cares? Nobody! Evrybody is happy outside. You rich people enjoy with crackers. You have diwali, you have dussehra! We have only this dark life! We used to cry earlier, but now we don't cry! Eyes too have dried up. There is no future for us!" Tanai was weeping heavily. The boy continued, "They have kidnapped you today, so you are crying! You can't imagine, many of us here are those whom their parents themselves have sold to these people, just for money!"
When someone gets real pain, pain in his heart, his eyes release all the waters of the seven seas! Tanai was listening to the two boys, and his eyes were crying continuously! He now understands what he never understood! What his parents always tried to tell him! Why his Debjeet da do not enjoy with crackers! Fate, though it has put him to dead end, has made him wiser!
We cannot expect the tolerance of a mother from a master, whose sole motive is to extract the most out of his slaves, rather than indulging in love, affection, and care! Kicks and slaps and fists are what that fits more appropriately in these scenarios! Tanai watched helplessly, with pearls of tears as the only consolation, as the villainous guards beat up Kaluwa and the other kid mercilessly in front of him.
Man can go far from the concept of God. He can never feel the need of such an entity. But, he is always automatically driven to Him, whenever he finds himself completely helpless and hopeless! And Tanai was no exception. He was a child and hence, it was also not the case that he would have gone far away from God by his own will, the concept that is so deeply woven into the mental framework of a child, by the traditions and customs and rituals of a typical Bengali family, and practised religiously by the family, especially by its female members!
Tanai cried to God!
"Dear God, I have been very bad in my life! I have disobeyed my parents, who loved me so much! I have hated kids who were poor! I have treated them with rebukes and taunts! But I have been wrong, very very wrong! I won't ever do that again! Save me and save all kids like me here. Save us God! I pray to you..."
As Tanai was making his confessions to the Almighty, he heard a gentle pat on his shoulder, which accompanied a fainter voice. Tanai shrieked with terror! "No, don't beat us! Don't beat us anymore! Please...". And then the voice said, "Don't be afraid, my brother! I have become fed up with this work! I will not anymore allow myself in this immoral work. I will inform the police!"
* * *
"Police.. Police! Police!!"
"Who informed the Police? Who?..."
* * *
Today Tanai is a changed boy! Much wiser and much more beautiful at heart! He loves and cares for everyone. No longer does he hate the poor kids. And he now celebrates his birthday and other special days in a very unique way! He, with help from his parents and other people from the locality, call all the slum kids and feeds them with good food. He, no longer, shouts at his mother when she prepares the food a little less tasty. And he never gets angry on them for reasons that he used to earlier. He too has walked his Debjeet da's way - he has stopped burning crackers! He has made a resolve in his heart - he would gather support and help child-labour getting erased when he grows up!
* * *
NAYAN's
March 2003 [Wrote in Bengali, at Patna]
Translated to English on 2nd July 2010 Midnight
at Hyderabad, India
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